At 15,601 square feet, home's an Ann Arbor giant

Just west of Travis Pointe County Club, behind a gate on Pleasant Lake Road, sits one of the largest homes on the market in Ann Arbor today.

Built just a few years ago, 5333 Pleasant Lake Road looks like a European castle.

It's the kind of house that inspires curiosity and - at just under $4.5 million after a recent price reduction - a bit of envy.

Robert Ramey / Ann Arbor Business Review

Seller Maureen Hawley spent years planning every detail of the sprawling, 15,601-square-foot home on 50 acres, setting a stage for a spectacular structure built with the best - the best materials, the best design, the best detail.

The result is a truly unique home.

"Everyone who looks at the house is impressed with the quality of materials," said listing agent Alison Robinson of Edward Surovell Realtors. "They love the way the house was planned and constructed."

The house bridges the worlds of grand design and modern function. There's no doubt that it's large. That it also feels manageable - and like a home - may surprise visitors.

"As beautiful as it is, it's still a family home," Robinson said. "It feels livable. It was meant to be lived in."

Robert Ramey

Robinson and Hawley have been friends for several years, and Robinson got to watch the house unfold as a building project.

She's familiar with the spaces, and it shows as she now markets the property, since she talks about the endless details with ease. Outside, there's the bluestone patio, split cobblestone, cedar roof and stocked pond. Indoors, she points out the reclaimed oak floors, the beveled glass in window after window, the mirrored fireplaces, the butler's pantry off of the kitchen.

More than size, more than the look, there are the quality finishes that set the house apart.

Carved mahogany trim and ceilings give an old-world quality to the billiard room and library. Newel posts at the main staircase come from a Dodge family mansion. Tile was chosen in Italy, and fixtures - lighting, doorknobs and more - are antique, handpicked by Hawley for each spot in the home.

The look had to be just right. The search, Hawley said, took her all over. And the result is that every aspect of the house has its own story, which emerges as Hawley walks through the house.

A stop in the lower level pub room, for example, yields a delightful detail for longtime Ann Arborites: The tables near the walnut bar herald from the legendary Pretzel Bell.

Steps away, the wine barrel medallions on the wall came from a French flea market. The 1,200-bottle wine cellar holds its perfect temperature thanks in part to the door that came from a salvage shop in California.

"I just found it in a bunch of stuff," Hawley said.

A signature project

The house was a three-year project, Hawley said, completed in 2006. She listed it for sale shortly afterwards, part of a decision to refocus her energy in a smaller home and her store, La Belle Maison, on East Stadium in Ann Arbor.

She built the home as she planned the store, moving in and opening La Belle Maison at nearly the same time.

The home was her personal project, but in her store, Hawley is able to express her sense of style in a retail setting that lets her share it with more people.

Her signature look blends many styles and frequent antiques, cultivating an elegant presence that never strays toward a look that Hawley describes as "overdesigned," Hawley said.

It's a focus on natural materials, soft fabrics and colors, and a simplicity that Hawley makes look easy, contrary to the deliberate planning behind it.

"There's nothing overpowering in the house," she said.

That's true even of an artist's mural of angels, painted with a Q-tip dipped in pastels on the master bedroom ceiling.

It's a true work of art, "beautiful at every stage of the process," Hawley recalls of watching the line drawing take its form at the hands of artist Martin Soo Hoo.

As a retailer of antiques and home furnishings, Hawley has to expose herself to possibilities for her inventory. Today, she looks at European magazines for ideas and travels abroad and in the U.S. for just the right pieces for her store.

It was just a few years ago that she did the same for this home. She recalls browsing the flea markets of Paris. "You'd never know what you'd find. I'd just go until I was inspired."

Creative freedom

Making a 15,000-square-foot home feel comfortable goes beyond the decorating. Hawley ensured that it was functional, too, with radiant heat flooring throughout and a mudroom that features a dog-washing station. There's also enough space for specialty rooms that boost the livability: A craft room with gift-wrap station; an exercise room; the home theater with 100-inch screen.

The bath in the master suite has its special details, too, like a heated towel bar and motorized blinds on the expansive windows that overlook the property.

The master bedroom is grand, thanks in large part to the angel mural in the coved ceiling. Combined with the stunning bath and expansive dressing area, it transcends into a suite that most people can only dream about.

"A lot of people say this is their favorite room," Hawley said.

Upstairs, the five bedrooms have high ceilings, built-in shelves, alcoves and lofts. Each room was designed to be different.

Hawley worked as a mechanical engineer, but the field lost its appeal when it moved into computer-generated images.

"It lost the creative end," she said.

She rediscovered the chance to express that through her home and ultimately her store, too.

For Hawley, much of it is about trust. Trusting yourself and your own taste, instead of following trends. Trusting your ability to define what you like and to maximize its potential in your surroundings.

Trusting that, when you only allow what you love into your home, that the result will be a natural expression of yourself.

And it's about savoring the freedom to change it around a bit to keep it fresh, too. "I move things around every few months," she said.

Hawley has the ability to see spaces in her imagination. She can create and recreate them, forming the foundation for her building and decorating projects.

She knows she'll end up building another house someday, planning it with precision first. She thinks it might be a rehabilitation project instead of new construction.

Hawley doesn't express regret over leaving the house. Building it fit the time in her life. Today, she said, she's focused on her next goals. That includes frequent travel, much of it for her store.

She knows the eventual buyers of the house won't feel the same passion over every detail.

But she's hopeful that they'll appreciate the beauty that she brought to every room.